Table of Contents
I. Backstory
II. Controls
III. Reading the HUD
IV. Gameplay
V. Units
VI. Stats
VII. Unit Levels
I. Backstory
Many centuries into the future, humans will have expanded past the veil of our planet, past the horizons of our galaxy, and into the depths of outer space. The advancement was made possible, almost solely, by the invention, improvement, and perfection of the known process of Terraformation, the process of making a planet inhabitable.
Thanks to this technology, humans became able to live on once-thought uninhabitable planets. In the beginning, this process took decades to complete and was conducted though a very cautious government agency, carefully choosing the planets they terraformed, and observed the process very closely, but as time went on, the process became more and more refined, and the demand for more space, more planets, became greater and greater. Soon the demand became too great for the single agency, and the government began farming the work off to corporations.
Unlike the agency, some of these corporations acted haphazardly, finding ways to speed up the process of Terraformation, to please their shareholders and investors. Sometimes these corporations would purposely skip steps in the process, in some cases, resulting in a very violent, difficult to correct environment, essentially ruining the planet. After environmental disasters had been caused on several planets, the government began enforcing heavy fines against these corporations, and the corporations quickly straightened up. However, they were still determined to find a way to accelerate the process.
Soon they would discover that the process could be increased ten-fold by conducting the process on a planet which could already sustain life, a direct violation of the law, which stated that any planet found with life on it was to be reported and not tampered with. But, if the corporation didn’t report it, then the government would never know, and that is what they did, conducted the process of Terraformation upon these life sustained planets. Some species survived and prospered in the new human atmosphere, while other species quickly died out, devastating millions of years of evolution.
This carried on in secret for decades, until one, very advanced war-like species, the Valrens, planet was Terraformed, killing millions of Valrens, the survivors fled out into the stars. The Valrens were not seen for decades, until a wave of unknown ships were detected, and with a single blast, destroyed all of the planets of the Wenmon subsector. The Interplanetary Defense was established and overtook the Valren invaders. But where they came from, or how many were left, remained a mystery.
As for Earth, the resources of the planet were too far diminished to justify saving the planet, now a wasteland. However, as it turned out, due to traveling length, Earth essentially became the literal center of the Human Intergalactic Empire. To maintain stable communications between planets, it was decided that Earth should host all communication systems. The planet became the Enormous Array of Radio Telecommunication Hubs, better known as E.A.R.T.H.
You are a Unit of the Interplanetary Defense, an organization dedicated to protecting the Human Intergalactic Empire.
II. Controls:
The game is controlled by using the mouse. Clicking on a unit will bring up the radius in which they can move and attack in. The red squares are areas that they can move to. The tan squares are the areas that they can attack. In order to attack, an enemy unit must be within the attack range of the unit.
III. Reading the HUD:
Higoten’s Space Defenders consists largely of one HUD that displays information about the ship, which will be explained in detail below, and a message bar, which displays information when an event occurs, such as the overtaking of a ship, or damage to the shields. Ships that are controlled by you are marked with a green plus sign, while ships that are controlled by the enemy are marked with a red plus sign. Clicking the “End turn” button located in the bottom right hand corner will finish your turn, and the enemy will take their turn.
IV. Gameplay:
The round is won when you control all of the units. In accordance with standard wartime regulations, due to the amount of limited resources and time that is required to build a spaceship, ships are never destroyed, but are instead overtaken and took control of. Once you have overtaken a ship, you can control it, and use it to help you attack other enemy forces, but be careful, the enemy can overtake your ships as well!
In accordance with standard Unit protocol, you may only take six ships with you when leaving the subsector and the rest are left behind to defend from other possible attacks. When you finish a round, you will be given a chance to pick six units. When you select a unit, the box around that unit will appear from tan to red, and that unit will be selected to come with you. To unselect a unit, click the red box, and they will be left behind. When you have chosen six, the round will be finished.
The game is lost when all of your units have been overtaken to enemy units, or if all the planets of the subsector are destroyed.
V. Units:
Long Range Shooter - A very slow unit equip with a powerful long range weapon. While capable of hitting enemy a good distance away, they move very slowly. They also have low defense, and are vulnerable to attacks.
Short Range Shooters - A somewhat speedy unit, with a semi-powerful turret, however, doesn’t have a high range.
Stealth - A speedy unit with extremely powerful, low range weapons. While it has fairly strong shielding, it suffers from a weak defensive structure.
Starship - Starships are very advance. They offer no significant advantage, but not significant disadvantage.
Teleporter - A very fast ship, capable of moving very far, very quickly. However, have weak defenses and weapons.
Cruiser - A fast moving ship with a large amount of defensive systems.
Swarm - Units that are very weak, slow, and unpowered. These units are not usually used by the Interplanetary Defense
VI. Stats:
Move Range - This is the distance from that your unit can travel in any direction. A unit can only travel once per turn.
Attack Range - This is the distance from your unit that an enemy can be attacked. A unit can attack three times per turn, if they haven’t moved, or if they have moved, they can attack twice.
Attack - Attack determines how likely and how much damage is done to an enemy.
Defense - Defense determines how likely an attack is to miss.
Shield - Shielding protects your ship from being overtaken by the enemy. If the shields fail, then your ship will be overtaken.
VII. Unit Levels:
A level is gained when a unit reaches any number of experience points divisible by five (Up to a max of 25 experience points). One experience point is giving when a unit over takes an enemy unit. Each level that is gained increases the units attack and defense by one point.
This guide was officially released to the public on 2/14/2013 at 12:11
Edits will be added here:
Minor typo correction.
Added information about unit levels.